Speeches by Blackman.

“Finally from me, what experience did you have of people coming to you who maybe had gone to your predecessors and perhaps, shall we say, not got a very satisfactory response? They might have then thought, “Ah, there’s this new MP; I’ll try them and see whether they can actually do something for me.””

“I have a couple of quick questions. I do not know your backgrounds, but I wonder whether you were in local government or any other form of government? Obviously, if you do not have any background at all, coming into this place is an “Oh, God!” moment. What preparation did you make when you were selected as a candidate,…”

“The reason I asked that question is that we are obviously looking at preparations for the future—both guidance that can be given to candidates and preparations for the House—when people are elected.”

“Finally from me, what experience did you have of people coming to you who maybe had gone to your predecessors and perhaps, shall we say, not got a very satisfactory response? They might have then thought, “Ah, there’s this new MP; I’ll try them and see whether they can actually do something for me.””

“That is particularly true in terms of dealing with the local authorities, because unless you have those arrangements set up quickly, you are going to get overloaded with stuff that, arguably, is not an MP’s job, yet—”

“For example, what was your experience in acquiring a constituency office?”

“In addition to the business that the Leader of the House has announced, on Thursday 18 June there will be a statement from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, followed by a statement from the Justice Committee, on their reports. Until yesterday we understood that there would be Government business on 18 J…”

“Last week, we jointly hosted the 50th anniversary of the APPG’s formation and celebrated some of the successes. The reality is that we have come an awfully long way over the last 50 years in terms of smoking cessation. As Mary rightly points out, achieving a smoke-free England by 2030 means halving the current rate of …”

“Yes.”

“My personal view is it should be as soon as possible, so that we can get Government action before the summer recess.”

“The Backbench Business Committee met on Tuesday afternoon, with six of the eight Members who are due to be on the Committee. Our quorum is four, so I urge both the Government and our Liberal Democrat colleagues to ensure that we are up to full strength as soon as possible so that we can continue. We added a further 12 …”

“Q9. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to combat antisemitism, but the regular hate marches we have seen on our streets with the chanting of “globalise the intifada” have led directly to attacks on Jewish businesses, synagogues and individuals in the streets, and now to an arson attack on where Jewish people liv…”

“The Minister must understand that to create the jobs that we need, we must encourage the private sector to invest. In my constituency, every single hospitality venue has halved the number of staff it employs. When I ask why, the answers are national insurance, non-domestic rates and the new Employment Rights Act. Exten…”

“The Minister must understand that to create the jobs that we need, we must encourage the private sector to invest. In my constituency, every single hospitality venue has halved the number of staff it employs. When I ask why, the answers are national insurance, non-domestic rates and the new Employment Rights Act. Exten…”

“As we approach the end of the domestic football season, it is only right that we congratulate Aston Villa on winning the Europa league last night. Indeed, it was only a year ago that I was celebrating Tottenham winning the Europa league. If I may say so, however, the most vital game on Sunday is Tottenham versus Everto…”

“Obviously, the Minister is not aware that the previous Conservative Government froze fuel duty for 14 years. Some of us lobbied for the Government of the day to abolish the escalator, but we did not do it. However, may I ask her one key question? How much extra money has the Treasury obtained as a result of the rise in…”

“This is somewhat baffling. I know that the Minister was not here for it, but we had a full day’s debate yesterday on energy supply and no Government Minister mentioned anything to do with this particular issue—hence the need for an urgent question today. The Minister will know that liquid gas, diesel and petroleum are …”

“The drawback would be that fewer people get to speak or people make shorter speeches. You would have to weigh the options. On Thursdays, almost inevitably, we already have a time limit on speeches. Nominally, the debates are supposed to be three hours, but in my experience we have never, ever had three-hour debates; th…”

“Colleagues, when they are presenting, often say they want a debate in the Chamber because it has greater focus, greater attention and more popularity, and of course it is screened out to the waiting world. Westminster Hall tends to be a second choice for colleagues. We promote it, both because of the timing and because…”

“It would take an act of bravery from the Leader of the House to prioritise a Backbench Business debate ahead of Government statements—for example, by having the debate first and Government statements afterwards. There could be a way of doing it, but that is obviously not how Standing Orders allow the position to be, so…”